Knowledge is power
by yanzak2142
Summary: House Kaldwin, alone amongst the rest of the noble families of the seven kingdoms they and they alone place their trust in reason and science instead of gods and faith. How will their presence change the game of thrones?


"_knowledge is power."_

_These are the words of my house, the noble house Kaldwin and in my humble opinion they reflect our very nature. Unlike the "great" houses of Westeros we make no pretence to be great warriors or shrewd statesman._

_We do not indulge in the petty bickering of other family's instead we devote our attention to understanding the nature of the world we inhabit so we night better ourselves, and others of course if it suits us. _

_When Agon the conquer first set foot in Westeros we and we alone among the Nobles of the land did not raise our swords in defiance. For two reasons._

_One was practical, we knew about the three dragons he had brought with him , knew of there capabilities and we were sensible enough to know that we had no hope of resisting him. The other reason?_

_Simple, as brutal as his methods were Agon the conquer represented something Westeros had not seen in millennia. Stability. If he were to be victorious in his conquest and managed to unite Westeros then the petty unending wars which had ravaged the it as far as recorded history wen would end, an we could finally peruse our passion without fear of interruption._

_Agon the conquer noticed our lack of defiance and perhaps because he found it refreshing to not have to demonstrate how futile resistance was for once rewarded us for it doubling the area of land that we controlled much to our delight._

_So it was that whilst others fought and died we prospered, taking the wealth of our newly acquired land and poring it in to financing experiments, importing rare materials form the free cities and because we did not believe for a moment that the peace would last strengthening the defences of our territory._

_Much to my family's amazement the peace did last. For 300 years our family prospered making more discoveries in those 3 centuries than in all the millennia before them. From new forms of warfare to medicine that revitalised the body and improved the mind we made revolutionary discoveries._

_Not that anyone knew of course, we had no intention of letting it be known what we had discovered. To the rest of the world we were just a small noble house in the crown lands._

_At least until that fateful day when Lord Rickard stak, lord of Winterfell warden of the north and one of the most powerful men in westeros travelled south to attend a tourney in the capital of kings landing._

_At the same time that Lord stark had crossed the trident I and my daughter Emily Kaldwin and a dozen or so guards had also started a journey toward kings landing._

_One of my family's experiments had been successful in turning approximately ten tones of lead in to gold, or at least a materiel which appeared to be gold and we needed the assessment of the alchemists guild as to whether the metal was genuine or not. When she learned of my destination my daughter had insisted on coming and I did not see any harm in letting her see the capital._

_We came across lord starks party on our second day of traveling and decided to journey together, the Crown lands were usually quiet safe but there's always the odd brigand whose desperate enough to attempt a robbery so it made sense to combine our forces._

_It took 3 more days of traveling to reach kings landing and I am hard pressed to recall a single moment when Emily wasn't with Lord stark talking laughing and talking about life in the north. I should have realised what was happening then and put a stop to it._

_I didn't of course and when Lord stark offered to escort my daughter around the city and also escort her to see the tourney I agreed. In truth I was grateful to not have to waste any of my time accompanying my daughter as she gawked at the sights of the city._

_My business with the alchemists guild was conclude in a most satisfactory manner. With them a assuring me that the metal was indeed gold and advising me to dig in the area I had told them it had been found in case there was any more buried beneath the surface._

_So I returned to the Inn where Lord starks party was also staying with a spring in my step. To find my daughter in bed with Lord stark._

_They were only kissing and just as well had they been doing anything else I would have probably attacked the northern lord and considering that he had at least 3riple the number of guards that I had it would not have ended well._

_As it was I was furious berating My daughter for her impulsiveness and cursing Stark for daring to become involved with my daughter who was a good ten years younger than her._

_When I look back on the words I said to a man who in wartime had the authority to command a fourth of the realms army's, I shudder to think at what would have happened had lord stark done what most men would have done in his situation._

_Instead of removing my head form my shoulders with a swing of his great sword he spoke calmly to me and eventually I relented in my tirade long enough to listen._

_He confessed that he was in love with my daughter and that he would do whatever he needed to do to convince me of his worthiness to be her husband._

_So I made a bargain with him informing him that If he pledged to take no women to bed for 3 years until my daughter reached the age of 18 I would consider his worthiness. With that I stormed out taking my daughter with me and headed home confident that the matter would go no further._

_No unmarried 25 year old would be able to resist the pleasures of the flesh for 3 whole years._

_I- I underestimated his resolve and when 3 years later he arrived at my home with the sworn testimony of over a thousand lords and lady's that he had been true to our agreement and when I saw the look of joy on my daughters face I knew that I had lost my little girl._

_They were married soon after and then she went north. On the day she was going to leave I made her sewer to never breath a word of our family's research or the source of her new found wealth and of course she agreed, yet as I sit in my study I wander how long her silence can last._

_One carless word and our secrets could be revealed and what then?_

_Sitting in my study I can't help but wonder what the future holds._

Well I think I will leave it there for now.

Review if you think it's worth commenting on and maybe I'll have enough free time to update it soon.


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